The Grenada gazette. (Grenada, Miss.) 1885-18??, 1887-09-03
-
FkiSCO'S CHlNAMEN.
What May BE Seen In the Chinese Quar-
tiers OF San Francisco.

What May BE Seen In the Chinese Guar
tiers Of san Francisco.
One marked feature of San Francisco
of especial interest to Eastern visitors
is the Chinese quarter. There are said
to be 100000 people in the city, Of
whom about 80. 900 are Cinnamon. The
number. owing to the restrictive legis.
lation by Congress, is steadily dimin.
ishing, and the citizens look forward
hopefully to the time when the Chinese
! will cease to be a disturbing factor III
their population and industries. I'm.
der the care of an experienced guide,
acquainted with the language and PEG.
pie, VIC made an evening visit to China
town. We noticed several joss-houses,
where were all the paraphernalia Of
heather worship. These places are
source of revenue and the privilege Of
keeping them, it is said, is sold to the
highest bidder. Here are the affairs,
the incense. the burning lamps, the i'm.
ages and the worshipers, but in them
all we saw no evidence of reverence or
of religious feeling. Some Of these
temples are decorated with elegant
woods, carvings, screens, bronzes, inn
ages and hangings Of golden embroid-
cries. One place Of interest we visited
was banquet hall which, we were
told, was the Chinese Delmonico. Here
dinners are given by the wealthy mer-
chants and others to their friends or
to distinguished visitors. A banquet
seemed just to have ended. Musicians
making a horrid din, singing women
with most unmusical voices. young
girls and men gambling with dominoes
or other devices, are in various parts of
the rooms. A lordly Chinaman re-
clines upon a richly upholstered chair
and smokes his fragrant cigar with an
evident air Of self-esteem and self-sat-
isfaction. In ono corner is luxurious
couch, on which recline two elegantly
dressed Chinese. On the finger of one
sparkles large and exceedingly bril-
liant diamond. Between them is a
lamp. Each has the opium pipe, and
one is in the very act of preparing to
smoke the drug which, while it yields
delicious unconsciousness, saps the very
foundation of health and moral char
acter We partake Of a cup Of fragrant
tea and sweetmeats, for which we pay
a round price Che Chinese know how
to charge), and 60 on our way. Two
features of Chinese life are patent to
us as we walk the streets. First, the
woman slavery. and second the gam
bling bells. Under the stars and stripes
a slavery worse than that which held
the Southern negroes exists in San
Francisco. Nor is 1t unknown to the
authorities. Women, even girls Of
tendcrest age, are brought from China,
bought as slaves. held as slaves,
guarded as slaves, and sold as slaves.
Walking along the streets, one sees
them looking out Of little grated win
dows, the victims of mans avarice.
Visiting the mission of the Methodist
Episcopal Church on Sunday, VIC saw
at the services nineteen women and
girls who had been rescued from this
slavery, and are sheltered, educated
and Christianized by the missionary
and his assistants. As we passed
through a narrow street our guide
called attention to men standing guard.
These were sentinels watching at the
doors of gambling dcns, ready to give
warning at the moment of danger.
The doors are iron-clad, and on in
specting several we discovered, the
marks Of the sledgc-hammer, where on
previous occasions the police had
broken in. In one square, on the right
and On the left, there must have been
two dozen such places, and perhaps as
many pitiful women slaves peering out
of their little grated windows. These
things are all known to the authorities.
Their opcnncss more than justitics the
report that hush-money is paid to the
police. One can not but conclude that
the Chinese are an undesirable popula-
ton. not merely, as the average Cali
fornian will tell you, because he works
more cheaply than the American,
sends his money out Of the country
and brings leprosy in, but, more than
all, he is u moral leper, corrupt and
corrupting, and no community can
harbor him and daily see and tolerate
his vices without cOntagion.-Cor. Bal
! tn0rc american.